
Philine S. E. zu ErmgassenUniversity of Edinburgh | UoE · School of GeoSciences
Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen
Doctor of Philosophy
About
103
Publications
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Introduction
Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen currently works at the School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh. Philine does research in Marine Conservation. She is particularly interested in the role of threatened coastal habitats in generating fish.
Additional affiliations
March 2010 - present
Publications
Publications (103)
Oyster reefs are often referred to as the temperate functional equivalent of coral reefs. Yet evidence for this analogy was lacking for the European native species Ostrea edulis. Historical data provide a unique opportunity to develop a robust definition for this ecosystem type, confirm that O. edulis are large‐scale biogenic reef builders, and ass...
Seagrass beds are designated as essential fish habitat by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the regional fishery management councils due to their critical role as nurseries for nekton. Yet, they face significant threats globally and have suffered substantial declines in extent and habitat quality. Quantitative estimates...
Ostrea edulis, the European flat oyster, was once a widespread economically and ecologically important marine species, but has suffered dramatic declines over the past two centuries. Consequently, there has been a surge in European restoration efforts, many of which focus on restocking as a conservation measure. In this study, we used whole-genome...
Ocean ecosystems have been subjected to anthropogenic influences for centuries, but the scale of past ecosystem changes is often unknown. For centuries, the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis), an ecosystem engineer providing biogenic reef habitats, was a culturally and economically significant source of food and trade. These reef habitats are now...
Anthropogenic activities have impacted marine ecosystems at extraordinary scales. Biogenic reef ecosystems built by the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) typically declined before scientific monitoring. The past form and extent of these habitats thus remains unknown, with such information potentially providing valuable perspectives for current m...
ABSTRACT: Historical ecology draws on a broad range of information sources and methods to provide insight into ecological and social change, especially over the past ~12,000 years. While its results are often relevant to conservation and restoration, insights from its diverse disciplines, environments, and geographies have frequently remained siloe...
Historical ecology draws on a broad range of information sources and methods to provide insight into ecological and social change, especially over the past ~12,000 yr. While its results are often relevant to conservation and restoration, insights from its diverse disciplines, environments, and geographies have frequently remained siloed or underrep...
Mangroves are a critical coastal habitat that provides a suite of ecosystem services and supports livelihoods. We undertake the first global analysis to estimate density and abundance of 37 commercially important fish and invertebrates that are known to extensively use mangroves. Geomorphic mangrove type, sea surface salinity and temperature, and l...
The development of science‐based restoration goals that reflect the primary motivation of stakeholders is a key factor leading to large‐scale, long‐term restoration successes. The ability to predict the potential ecosystem service delivery from restoration can inform the setting of appropriate goals and facilitate the strategic planning of restorat...
Ocean ecosystems have been subjected to anthropogenic influences for centuries, but the scale of past ecosystem changes is often unknown. For centuries, the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis), an ecosystem engineer providing biogenic reef habitats, was a culturally and economically significant source of food and trade. These reef habitats are now...
Oyster reefs are often referred to as the temperate functional equivalent of coral reefs. Yet evidence for this analogy is lacking for the European native species Ostrea edulis and its biogenic habitat. Recently assembled historical data provide a unique opportunity to develop a robust definition for this ecosystem type, confirm that O. edulis are...
Anthropogenic activities have impacted marine ecosystems at extraordinary scales. Biogenic reef ecosystems built by the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) typically declined prior to scientific monitoring. Collating >1,600 records published over 350 years, we created a highly resolved (10km2) map of historical oyster reef presence across its biog...
Ocean ecosystems have been subjected to anthropogenic influences for centuries, but the scale of past ecosystem changes is often unknown. For centuries, the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis), an ecosystem engineer providing biogenic reef habitats, was a culturally and economically significant source of food and trade. These reef habitats are now...
Historical ecology draws on a broad range of information sources and methods to provide insight into ecological and social change, especially over the past ~12,000 years. While its results are often relevant to conservation and restoration, insights from its diverse disciplines, environments, and geographies have frequently remained siloed or under...
The European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, once formed extensive reef habitats throughout European seas and estuaries. These reefs are now largely functionally extinct, yet interest and support for their restoration is rapidly growing. A major bottleneck to scaling up oyster reef restoration is the lack of available oysters to supply the growing dema...
Mangrove forests support unique biodiversity and provide a suite of ecosystem services (ES) that benefit people. Decades of continual mangrove loss and degradation have necessitated global efforts to protect and restore this important ecosystem. Generating and evaluating asset maps of biodiversity and ES is an important precursor to identifying loc...
Colsoul, B. (2023). Overcoming Ostrea edulis seed production limitations to meet ecosystem restoration demands in the UN decade on restoration. Aquatic Living Resources, 36, [16].
The European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, is a habitat-forming bivalve which was historically widespread throughout Europe. Following its decline due to overfishing, pollution, sedimentation, invasive species, and disease, O. edulis and its beds are now listed as a threatened and/or declining species and habitat by OSPAR. Increasing recognition of t...
The European native oyster ( Ostrea edulis ) is a threatened keystone species which historically created extensive, physically complex, biogenic habitats throughout European seas.
Overfishing and direct habitat destruction, subsequently compounded by pollution, invasive species, disease, predation and climate change have resulted in the functional...
Human activities have led to degradation of ecosystems globally. The lost ecosystem functions and services accumulate from the time of disturbance to the full recovery of the ecosystem and can be quantified as a "recovery debt," providing a valuable tool to develop better restoration practices that accelerate recovery and limit losses. Here, we qua...
Habitat destruction and biodiversity loss from exploitation of ecosystems have led to increased restoration and conservation efforts worldwide. Disturbed ecosystems accumulate a recovery debt - the accumulated loss of ecosystem services - and quantifying this debt presents a valuable tool to develop better ecosystem restoration practices. Here, we...
The value of critical habitats, such as seagrass, to act as a nursery varies spatially and temporally; however, such information is essential for the public and stakeholders to appropriately value and manage these habitats. We use an existing systematic long-term fisheries dataset in Port Phillip Bay to examine variability in nursery habitat value...
Global-scale conservation initiatives and policy instruments rely on ecosystem indicators to track progress towards targets and objectives. A deeper understanding of indicator interrelationships would benefit these efforts and help characterize ecosystem status. We study interrelationships among 34 indicators for mangroves, saltmarsh, and seagrass...
This handbook has been written to facilitate effective and consistent monitoring of native oyster restoration projects across Europe. It builds on the information provided in the European Native Oyster Habitat Restoration Handbook (Preston et al. 2020) and acts as
a European extension to the American Oyster Habitat Restoration Monitoring and Assess...
Case studies in support of Caswell et al. 2020.
A global review of mangrove forests - extent, condition, protection, ecosystem services, restoration, global mapping, policy, economics, community engagement
Tidal marshes are one of the world’s most economically valuable habitats; yet, they have experienced large and persistent declines globally. Increased knowledge of the ecosystem services delivered by marshes has become a powerful tool to conserve and restore them. But hesitancies regarding valuations and their application in decision-making remain....
The rapid loss of coastal and estuarine biogenic habitats has reduced the delivery of valuable ecosystem services, resulting in calls for increased habitat restoration. Yet, a lack of information on how key habitat characteristics (e.g., area, vertical relief, age) influence the ability of restored habitats to deliver these ecosystem services hinde...
Seagrasses, oyster reefs, and salt marshes are critical coastal habitats that support high densities of juvenile fish and invertebrates. Yet which species are enhanced through these nursery habitats, and to what degree, remains largely unquantified. Densities of young-of-year fish and invertebrates in seagrasses, oyster reefs, and salt marsh edges...
• Bivalve habitat restoration is growing in geographic extent and scale globally. While addressing the wide‐scale loss of these biogenic habitats is still a key motivation behind restoration efforts, stakeholders and funders are increasingly drawn to shellfish restoration for the many ecosystem services these habitats provide.
• There is clear evid...
Across its indigenous range, there are growing efforts to reintroduce and restore the European native oyster, Ostrea edulis. At many locations, active intervention is necessary to recover native oyster reefs. Actions can include the introduction of oysters in order to increase the breeding population or the introduction of a substrate or medium for...
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6517/670.1
This European Native Oyster Habitat Restoration Handbook aims to provide foundational and practical guidance on the restoration and conservation of native oysters (Ostrea edulis) and native oyster habitat across the UK and Ireland. The guidance outlined throughout the Handbook is also of relevance to projects across the native oyster’s biogeographi...
This chapter describes the techniques that can be implemented to achieve restoration success across Europe, as well as some that are used for other species but are yet to be fully developed for the European native oyster. A combination of these techniques may be
required to maximise restoration success and outreach or engagement in the project. Whi...
1. The movement of people, equipment, materials, and oysters between locations carries with it the risk of moving harmful organisms, such as diseases and invasive non-native species.
2. Translocation of material and oysters from one water body to another is never risk-free and should be avoided where possible.
3. Never translocate material from a...
1. There is a growing effort throughout Europe to restore populations of native
oysters (Ostrea edulis), with the ecological objective of enhancing ecosystem biodiversity
and resilience.
2. The introduced parasite, Bonamia ostreae, caused catastrophic mortalities during
the 1980s, furthering the decline of this species, and is now present throughou...
1. Oyster reefs are among the most threatened marine habitats globally. In Europe, oyster reefs have been extirpated from most locations within their historical range. Active restoration of the native oyster (Ostrea edulis) in Europe has grown substantially in recent years. In sharing experiences between oyster restoration projects in Europe at the...
• The Native Oyster Restoration Alliance (NORA) supports the protection and ecological restoration of the native European oyster, Ostrea edulis, and its habitat across its current and historical biogeographical range. NORA works to overcome barriers to the conservation, restoration, and recovery of the European oyster by providing a platform for th...
Mangroves are critical nursery habitats for fish and invertebrates, providing livelihoods for many coastal communities. Despite their importance, there is currently no estimate of the number of fishers engaged in mangrove associated fisheries, nor of the fishing intensity associated with mangroves at a global scale. We address these gaps by develop...
Farming of marine organisms (mariculture) represented 36% of global aquaculture, with mollusks representing 58.8% in live weight. Mollusk populations in some locations are, however, threatened by degradation of the ecosystems and/or over-fishing. This threat is increasingly being addressed through Restorative Shellfish Mariculture (RSM), as opposed...
Mangroves are critical nursery habitats for fish and invertebrates, providing livelihoods for many coastal communities. Despite their importance, there is currently no estimate of the number of fishers engaged in mangrove associated fisheries, nor of the fishing intensity associated with mangroves at a global scale. We address these gaps by develop...
Mangrove forests provide many ecosystem services but are among the world's most threatened ecosystems. Mangroves vary substantially according to their geomorphic and sedimentary setting; while several conceptual frameworks describe these settings, their spatial distribution has not been quantified. Here, we present a new global mangrove biophysical...
Coastal ecosystems are estimated to support 95% of the world’s commercially-important fish, owing largely to their provision of nursery habitat for juveniles; however, systematic databases with such data are scarce. By systematically reviewing the literature across Australia, we quantified fisheries enhancement from three key coastal vegetated habi...
The concept of ‘blue growth’, which aims to promote the growth of ocean economies whilst holistically managing marine socio-ecological systems, is emerging within national and international marine policy. The concept is often promoted as being novel, however, we show that, historical analogies exist which can provide insights for contemporary plann...
Widespread global declines in shellfish reefs (ecosystem-forming bivalves such as oysters and mussels) have led to growing interest in their restoration and protection. With restoration projects now occurring on four continents and in at least seven countries, global restoration guidelines for these ecosystems have been developed based on experienc...
Globally, carbon-rich mangrove forests are deforested and degraded due to land-use and land-cover change (LULCC). The impact of mangrove deforestation on carbon emissions has been reported on a global scale; however, uncertainty remains at subnational scales due to geographical variability and field data limitations. We present an assessment of blu...
Reef ecosystems all over the world are in decline and managers urgently need information that can assess management interventions and set national conservation targets. We assess the conservation status and risk of ecosystem collapse for the Oyster Reef Ecosystem of Southern and Eastern Australia, which comprises two community sub-types established...
Globally, carbon-rich mangrove forests are deforested and degraded due to land-use and land-cover change (LULCC). The impact of mangrove deforestation on carbon emissions has been reported on a global scale; however, uncertainty remains at subnational scales due to geographical variability and field data limitations. We present an assessment of blu...
Restoration Guidelines for Shellfish Reefs (Mandarin version)
Cantonese version of Restoration Guidelines for Shellfish Reefs
This guide is for practitioners, managers and community members to provide both guidance in decision-making for establishing shellfish reef restoration projects and examples of different approaches undertaken by experienced practitioners in a variety of geographic, environmental and social settings.
The guide both updates and expands on the origin...
Rapid losses of mangroves over the past 50 years have had negative consequences on the environment, climate, and humanity, through diminished benefits such as carbon storage, coastal protection and fish production. Restoration of mangrove forests is possible, and has already been undertaken in many settings, but such efforts have been piecemeal, an...
Bivalve habitats have, until recent times, been generally overlooked as an important estuary habitat type. Historically, complex, three-dimensional habitats made up of dense aggregations of bivalves, their shells, associated species, and accumulated sediments were a dominant habitat type in temperate and subtropical estuaries around the world (Sten...
US west coast populations of the native Olympia oyster Ostrea lurida declined precipitously in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and were often replaced by the non-native Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) by the aquaculture industry. Recovery of native oyster ecosystem services derived from their suspension feeding activities (term...
Several bivalve families include species that occur in sufficient densities to modify the environment and create structured biogenic habitat. These habitats have also suffered among the highest losses of any marine habitat globally. In the case of bivalve reefs, the physical structure provided by the shells, supplied with biodeposits produced from...
Mangroves are critical fish and invertebrate habitats, however, identifying to what degree species are affiliated to mangrove systems remains challenging. Here we outline and apply two quantitative and one qualitative method for assessing the degree of mangrove affiliation globally at a species level, based on habitat-specific fish and invertebrate...
Aim
Use a fishery‐independent metric to model and map regional‐scale fishing impact, and demonstrate how this metric assists with modelling current and potential fish biomass to support coral‐reef management. We also examine the relative importance of anthropogenic and natural factors on fishes at biogeographical scales.
Location
Reefs of five jur...
With the growing recognition that effective action on climate change will require a combination of emissions reductions and carbon sequestration, protecting, enhancing and restoring natural carbon sinks have become political priorities. Mangrove forests are considered some of the most carbon-dense ecosystems in the world with most of the carbon sto...
Invasive alien species (IAS) constitute a major threat to global biological diversity. In order to control their spread, a detailed understanding of the factors influencing their distribution is essential. Although international trade is regarded as a major force structuring spatial patterns of IAS, the role of other social factors remains unclear....
Invasive alien species (IAS) constitute a major threat to global biological diversity. In order to control their spread, a detailed understanding of the factors influencing their distribution is essential. Although international trade is regarded as a major force structuring spatial patterns of IAS, the role of other social factors remains unclear....
Water temperature is known to influence individual animal metabolism, development, and reproduction. However, in situ studies aiming to demonstrate the link between water temperature and community structure in complex ecosystems such as large river floodplains are still rare. In particular, we have little indication about how an increase in tempera...
Animal forests form the foundation of many important marine benthic habitats. However, a near ubiquitous lack of long-term scientific data raises significant challenges in assessing how these communities have changed over time in response to human impacts and how they might respond to future perturbations. To address these questions, alternative so...
Global coral reef related tourism is one of the most significant examples of nature-based tourism from a single ecosystem. Coral reefs attract foreign and domestic visitors and generate revenues, including foreign exchange earnings, in over 100 countries and territories. Understanding the full value of coral reefs to tourism, and the spatial distri...
Worldwide, many native oyster populations have been severely depleted. In the Pacific Northwest (PNW), large-scale restoration efforts for the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida) are currently underway to augment stocks in order to regain their ecosystem services, particularly those related to filter-feeding activity. An important limitation in e...
http://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/Marine/Area-basedManagement/mow/mow-library/Documents/OysterHabitatRestoration_ManagersGuide.pdf
1. Quantification of ecosystem services is increasingly valuable for conservation and restoration decision making. Structured habitats serve as nursery grounds by enhancing juvenile fish and mobile crustacean survival and abundance. This service is challenging to quantify due to ontogenetic shifts in habitat use by many species. 2. We reviewed avai...